Friday, November 27, 2009

Turkey day - sans turkey but with a double helping of thanks

Warning ... this post details my day at the hospital with dad and you can skip it if you are just here for diet stuff. :)

Cro and I headed to the hospital to spend our Thanksgiving with dad and mom. Fluid on dad's lungs (pneumonia) was giving him great difficulty breathing. This combined with his low red blood cell count caused insufficient oxygen for his heart. This caused him to have a heart attack. He really thought he was going to die and as the ambulance doors were closing he told mom to never forget that he loves her, thinking that would be the last time she would see him alive. He also thanked the men helping him in the ambulance and said "Well boys, thank you for all you have done, you can't do anything more." And expected that he would be dead before he arrived at the hospital. They weren't able to find a vein so dad said they used a device to punch into his leg, through the bone, and inject straight into the marrow. I don't know what it was they injected but through their care he made it to the hospital and is on the mend again.

Dad is so tired of these continuous near-death episodes and expressed that he doesn't know why God won't take him but there must be a reason and something important that he's being kept alive to do. Mom said that perhaps there are so many people praying for him not to die that God keeps bringing him back from the brink. I just hope that he can enjoy a few more happy years with mom and without all the pain. Tall order.

We had a great visit with him and he stayed awake the entire time even though he was so tired and we kept urging him to sleep and assuring him that we would still be there we he woke up. He just didn't want to miss a moment. He told us that he loves us several times and made a point to tell Cro that he loves him like a son. Then dad told us stories of his childhood hijinks and of so many humorous life experiences and pranks that he pulled on friends and family. My dad is such a character and is loved by a great many people. I wish I had even half as many fun stories to tell about my own life but I was always shy and something in me held me back from participating in such daring endeavors. Maybe I was born with the careful and boring gene. :P

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving spent in the company of the people I love most. Mom held dad's hand until she had to leave at 4pm to go home and take care of her horses. Then dad asked if I would mind holding his hand (of course I didn't mind!). I held his hand until Cro and I headed back to Indy at 7pm. It was a very special day and I know that having us there boosted his spirits greatly. Mom will be back to spend each day with him until he gets to go home again. We just hope that the fluid on his lungs issue will be resolved soon and that they can get his red blood cell count back up to a healthy level before he goes home ... so that he doesn't end up in the hospital again a few days later.

I haven't been blogging about every detail but he has had to be admitted to the hospital 4 times in the last month. Not all of them have been overnight stays but each one of them was a life or death scare. Mostly due to the fluid on his lungs causing great difficulty breathing. One of them was due to an antibiotic suddenly turning on him and causing an allergic reaction (eye and tongue swelling greatly and he was terrified that his throat was going to swell closed). They at first claimed that he must have just bitten his tongue. In my dad's usual keen humor he said (around his swollen tongue) that he couldn't have bitten his tongue because he doesn't even have his teeth in. Once they determined that it was an allergic reaction to his antibiotic they gave him benedryl (I'm assuming prescription benedryl), the swelling went down quickly, they changed his antibiotic and he could go home.

On a diet note, it's easy to eat low carb just about anywhere. I got a burger, no bun, a slice of cheese and grilled mushrooms for lunch. I also had a sugarfree jello with whipped cream and later got a pack of roasted almonds from a hospital vending machine. Easy peasy. The difficult thing is finding diet drinks without aspartame! There is always water available though and that's what I ended up drinking. :) I actually found one vending machine that had a product called Aquafina Flavor Splash that I took a chance on. Good. :D And no aspartame.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and was able to share the day with the people they love most too.

1 comment:

There is a continuous thought of your Pop on my mind. That punch into the marrow of medicine must be painful! Technology is amazing isn't it?Next time you see him, give him a little hand squeeze from me. I think about what will happen with my folks when they get a little older. They are so far away...

I am a freelance online art director who specializes in all things web. Low-carb is my preferred mode of eating. I have RRMS, grew up country and live in the city of Indianapolis with my husband, cat and sugar gliders.